Alfred Browning Parker

Rights & Responsibilities

The Digital Library Center's core mission is supporting preservation and access. The digitization of materials using digital preservation and library standards supports long-term preservation and the posting of openly accessible materials online supports access. The Digital Library Center further supports preservation and access by ensuring that all applicable rights are respected and supported by seeking Internet distribution permissions as needed. Internet distribution permissions can be required for cultural and documentary heritage rights, privacy rights, and copyright. See below for links to additional information and resources.

Digital Library Center & Copyright

Copyright is a property right that seeks to balance the rights of the creator with the rights of the global society. Copyright is but one of many rights and responsibilities that must be considered when digitizing materials. Digitization makes use of new and emerging technologies, technologies whose use may not yet have applicable laws supporting their use for the gobal public good.

The Digital Library Center observes United States copyright
legislation (title 17, U. S. Code). Assistance
interpreting copyright legislation is provided by the Copyright
Office in the Library of Congress. The Center's projects target resources published
outside of as well as inside the United States of America. The Center's staff
observes whichever affords the greatest protections: either the laws of the United States or the laws
of the country of origin.

Additionally, at least one of our projects,
the Digital Library of the Caribbean, accepts
resources from foreign partners. It is the responsibility of those partners to observe the copyright
laws of their home country or the country of origin, whichever affords the greatest protections.

Newspaper Permission Letters for Access to Physical Copies:In order to digitize newspapers, access to the physical copies and permissions from the copyright holders are required. These are the letters defining usage for borrowed newspapers, and they are followed by the letter templates for newspapers to grant Internet Distribution Permissions.

Digital reproductions of this item from the University of Florida's Special Collections and Area Studies is made available under an assertion of fair use (17 U.S.C. 107) for noncommercial educational and research purposes only. The University of Florida Libraries respects the intellectual property rights of others and does not claim any copyright interest in these materials. Written permission from the copyright owner and any other rights holders must be obtained for any reuse of this item that extends beyond fair use or other statutory exemptions. Furthermore, responsibility for the determination of the copyright status and securing permission rests with those persons wishing to reuse the materials. The Libraries would like to learn more about these materials, and welcomes individuals or organizations to contact UF Digital Library Center (ufdc@uflib.ufl.edu) with any additional information they can provide.